M75 Doc Hanson ♥ masters track: It saved his life

Dan Girling, a stocky masters track friend of mine, has a stock answer to why he sprints: Because I want to stay alive! Lots of meanings there. Basically, he wants to stave off sickness and out-of-shapeness. But once in a while, I hear tales of how being a masters track athlete actually does save your life. Here’s one of them, care of M70 champ Wayne Bennett of the Dallas Masters Track Club.


Wayne writes:

Attached is a letter I received from Wayne “Doc” Hanson in Louisiana. He is a member of our club and is 79 years old. He was the founder of the track and field program at McNeese State University after going there as a chemistry professor. This story is one of the reasons we do what we do.

Doc Hanson wrote:

Hey Wayne,
I hope you are still putting in some good workouts and getting ready for the indoor season. I have just finished one year after having my aorta aneurysm split so I’m thankful just to be here.
I am slowly getting back into the workout routine. I have been doing it since January but taking it very slow and easy. That’s hard to do when you think you are still young and invincible. Oh well, maybe next year. At least that’s what I’m planning on.
In your letter the other day you had the address of someone who was wanting information on longtime runners and health problems. I think I might qualify since I have been running since the summer of 1944 and this episode is the first “heart” type problem I have had. And it really wasn’t a heart problem.
I had no clue anything was wrong. In fact, we had just returned one late Saturday from a weeklong trip up into Tennessee and North Carolina. Then Sunday morning my wife and her sister left for Baton Rouge to visit a sick aunt. I stayed home, did the usual things, vacuumed the house, mopped the kitchen, etc. Went to the bathroom to wash my hands and started back into the bedroom when it felt like a giant fist hit me in the chest and knocked the wind out of me.
I crawled to the bed, got on it and broke out in a sweat. Then I began to feel nauseated and thought to myself, “I don’t like these symptoms.” I called my next-door neighbor to take me to the hospital and by this time I was beginning to fade in and out. Still no pain of any kind. They immediately began checking and the next thing I knew I was told they were going to have to do emergency surgery, and four days later I woke up in a hospital room.
The surgeon told me later that the aneurysm had ruptured and if I had been 4 or 5 minutes later there would have been nothing they could have done. And to top that, he said I had “crashed” on them. He said that 95% of the people who have what I had do not make it to the hospital. Of those who do, a good percentage of them don’t make it through the surgery and of those who make it through the surgery, many have problems afterwards and don’t survive.
I asked him if, when they had my heart out playing with it — if it was enlarged since I have been running for over 60 years. He told me it was not enlarged but it was in very good physical shape and my body was in good physical shape and that was what saved me.
I think I have amazed them all by what I have been doing. I work out with weights for 30 to 45 minutes and then do an hour on the stationary bike (20 miles) or an hour on the treadmill, 3 – 3 1/2 miles. Of course 3 miles is not too swift but I walk and jog and I am now working my jogging time up to 6-8 minutes before stopping to walk for 1-2 minutes.
So we’ll see what the new year brings. I’m going to keep this schedule up until the first of the year and then start trying to increase it a little each month. Who knows? Maybe by July I’ll be ready for the Dallas Masters. . . .
Good running,
Wayne Hanson

Related posts:

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  3. Nearman has Times of his life talking masters
  4. Marisa Hanson claims her week of fame in USATF
  5. Masters life for men begins at 35

November 15, 2008

One Response

  1. peter taylor - November 15, 2008

    Great story, with plenty of drama. Thanks to Wayne Bennett (“Wayne Bennett flying”) for forwarding this. Yes, Doc Hanson, Wayne, and others, there are many reasons to stay in shape.
    I had a life-threatening problem in 2005 (massive pulmonary embolism), and I will share one bit of advice (which Doc Hanson, who doesn’t know me, certainly followed). Never, never, never go to bed in the hope of “sleeping it off,” “feeling better in the morning,” or something similar. I even thought of going to bed to see whether I would be better the next morning. No, no, no. If you have a sudden change in how you feel (shortness of breath, chest pain, numbness, confusion, extreme fatigue), never say something like “It must be something I ate, maybe I’m a little too tired,” etc.
    Always have someone take you to an emergency room immediately. It could be a heart attack, stroke, pulmonary embolism, aortic aneurysm, or other condition that will either (a) kill you or (b) disable you.
    In my own case, I had someone take me to the hospital, and 16 days later I walked out alive. Had I tried to sleep it off, well……..

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